This audio cable business is getting out of hand...

[Timbo2]

Already exists:

But the frequencies are scrambled. Should they be ROYGBIV? - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo (and/or) violet

 

[maarten]

...Otherwise the cable is very soft and has a great feel.

Based on this this findings I think they these cables have a very clear but a somewhat dense and compact - but very revealing and transparant -soundstage and silk smooth female voices, articulate upper-bass control and crispy snare hats whilst a slightly restrained attack off the e-snares of acoustic guitars. Can be a little harsh on male coughs in the audience of live classical recordings. Overall not a bad cable.

 

[JohnYang1997]

I have had experience of burn in of headphone cable. New cable sounds more mellow and soft, could be somewhat pleasing. After burn in, the sound is slightly more direct, transients are more pronounced, overall slightly brighter. I have had consistent result as I had two er4sr two er4xr and another cable from etymotic. All have the same effect.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Remember, when something can't be explained by one, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

 

[JohnYang1997]

And burn in process is around 3 days of normal use.

 

[GrimSurfer]

The best cable is the one whose length is no longer than it has to be, but is long enough to minimize strain at the connectors. Yet, this isn't something that cable manufacturers advertise. Why? Because doing so would encourage people to make their own!

I can understand those who don't want to do this sort of thing, but it's not hard. The results, IMHO, can be superior to mass produced/third world items with cold solder joints and $hitty connectors.

YMMV, but I like using Cardas wire stock. It's reasonably priced, the outer jacket material is supple, and the inner insulation (and shielding, where this is needed) is good quality.

I won't get into connectors because the ones I use might seem a little "audiophilish" even though they're not expensive $7 ea) in the grand scheme of things.

With a little work and very few tools (soldering iron, wire stripper/cutter, and crimped), one can make cables of the exact length needed. This keeps the back of components neatly interconnected, avoiding loops and cross-overs with power cables.

 

[JohnYang1997]

There are countless blind listening contests held in China. Analog cable is one of the easiest thing to hear difference.
There are also opamp, usb cables, power cables, dacs, amps, digital interfaces etc.

 

[Tks]

They also have one using Mogami 2534 quad cable for $10 more. I think you should get both and measure any differences .

All jokes aside though, Starquads have been demonstrated to show some serious EMI reductions by Benchmark. They also hold to their integrity at the same time by telling people sonic qualities do not improve the music, nor do things like “directional” or “burn in” actually exist.

I would some day like to try my hand at making cables (though trying to get situated here in apartments in NYC is a nightmare, folks here pay people to come change light bulbs or put down mouse traps.. that’s how lacking we are in terms of things many people have learned in adolescence).

Also haven’t done much soldering outside of dental prosthetics, and getting that setup especially seems impossible in this setting. Ugh..

 

[SIY]

I have had experience of burn in of headphone cable. New cable sounds more mellow and soft, could be somewhat pleasing. After burn in, the sound is slightly more direct, transients are more pronounced, overall slightly brighter. I have had consistent result as I had two er4sr two er4xr and another cable from etymotic. All have the same effect.

Is this supposed to be parody?

 

[edechamps]

I have had experience of burn in of headphone cable. New cable sounds more mellow and soft, could be somewhat pleasing. After burn in, the sound is slightly more direct, transients are more pronounced, overall slightly brighter. I have had consistent result as I had two er4sr two er4xr and another cable from etymotic. All have the same effect.

Did you do this test double-blind under controlled conditions?

Remember, when something can't be explained by one, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

What you're describing (cable burn-in) would likely violate known and well-understood laws of physics regarding electrical transmission in a cable. So it's either that, or there is a problem with your experiment. Unless you did an extremely rigorous study, the latter is way, way, way more likely than the former.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Did you do this test double-blind under controlled conditions?



What you're describing (cable burn-in) would likely violate known and well-understood laws of physics regarding electrical transmission in a cable. So it's either that, or there is a problem with your experiment. Unless you did an extremely rigorous study, the latter is way, way, way more likely than the former.

1, Not double , but blind tested.
2, A few people did ask my about this before I talked about it. And I said yeah, that's what happend. My guess is, the solder joints can get burnt in, or something funny does happen in connections after burn in. If the wire itself gets burnt in is unknown. But there is another story: Ue900/ue900s comes in with two cables blue and black, one with mic one without. Many people post things that saying after months of use and switched to the other cable and sounded better. At that time, I didn't believe. The interesting part is, the contradictory of the sound they described. They always feel the new cable sounded better. But they have conflicted description of the sound of each color. However the newer cable would sound softer and less harsh. That's the consistent part. So when I look back that's mind blowing.
The thing is, a lot of people brought this up to me with thisb phenomenon and asked me the reason for it. And I did blind test for it.
The sound actually change fastest in the first day(first few hours), but it's fully burnt in in the three days of average use. The saying the need of hundreds of hours burn in is absolutely bullshit. That doesn't happen.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Is this supposed to be parody?

No.

 

[SIY]

The sound actually change fastest in the first day(first few hours), but it's fully burnt in in the three days of average use. ...absolutely bullshit. That doesn't happen.

With this excision, what you're saying makes far more sense.

 

[LTig]

[..] My guess is, the solder joints can get burnt in, or something funny does happen in connections after burn in. If the wire itself gets burnt in is unknown.

Burning in solder joints is actually a very bad idea. Latest at 360 degree celsius they will just melt away, and of course this has a major influence on the sound. The wire itsself may stand more heat but depending on the kind of insulation material this may also melt, with similar consequences.

On the other hand trying to burn in a line level cable with the meagre power coming out of a preamp will not have these effects, so you can just skip it anyway. Burning in loudspeaker cables requires amps like the new Benchmark AHB2 which are safe to drive a short cut. Normal amps will just break.

 

[GGroch]

Remember, when something can't be explained by one, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

This can be easily, scientifically, and objectively explained. Please reference one of the many ASR threads on how humans hear. It is established science.

There are countless blind listening contests held in China. Analog cable is one of the easiest thing to hear difference........

If you can find one documented statistically valid blind test proving this....it would be the first.

 

[JohnYang1997]

With this excision, what you're saying makes far more sense.

Thanks. Also for all the clains I did on this forum. Like cable, like digital filters, like amps. The differences are really small to begin with. Whether it's meaningful to take time and effort even money into this is a different question. I wanted to know the reality. I don't think I'm right. But I'm exploring without initial bias, and correct myself if anything is wrong. Tomorrow is the first day of the new semester, so I got a little anxious.

 

[JohnYang1997]

This can be easily, scientifically, and objectively explained. Please reference one of the many ASR threads on how humans hear. It is established science.



If you can find one documented statistically valid blind test proving this....it would be the first.

The whole science of human hearing so far is established by experiments and trails. Not absolute mathematical proof not brain pulse analysis type of measurements. You should know that it's easy to prove one thing is wrong and hard to prove it's correct using anecdotal/experimental evidence. Similarly, it's an 100% proof of human can hear a thing of a double blind test is done, but it's not concrete to prove one can't hear. There is always a very small chance it's wrong or not accurate.

 

[GGroch]

The quickness of your reply indicates you did not have time to view the referenced thread. Of course there is brain activity analysis. We also have many objective tests that prove human hearing perceptions are heavily influenced by our expectations. So, before taking any subjective sighted impressions as proof, I would need to be shown evidence that the listener is not human.

If cable burn in changes the electrical properties of a signal cable in any way, then that should be easily measured as well. Short of tremendous over-voltage (lightning strikes) it has never been.

Are you saying that the electrical properties of audio cable are also not known?

 

[JohnYang1997]

The quickness of your reply indicates you did not have time to view the referenced thread.

If cable burn in changes the electrical properties of a signal cable in any way, then that should be easily measured as well. Short of tremendous over-voltage (lightning strikes) it has never been.

Are you saying that the electrical properties of audio cable are also not known?

It is measurable. Then, then people are gonna say, it's measurable on equipment doesn't mean it's audible. It doesn't make a lot of sense to express tbh.

 

[Sawdust123]

I am hugely skeptical of most cable claims. However, I do believe in mechanically sound construction methods and designs based on well proven physics like star-quad cables.

I won't emphatically state that cables don't change over time because I am not a metallurgical expert. However, I highly doubt any changes that might occur, are due to burn in. For instance, we are all familiar with the annealing process in metals. This requires heating the metal above its crystallization temperature and then cooling it. Steel is often cold worked and then reannealed. Perhaps it is possible that some annealing can occur (albeit slowly) at room temperatures and that after flexing a cable during installation, there is a period of settling during which some of this annealing occurs. I am of course being very generous in my assumptions here that this occurs. Furthermore, I remain highly skeptical that if this does occur, that there is enough significance to it that it produces audible differences.

I have heard a few friends claim new fancy power cables made huge differences in their systems. I don't think they are lying. I just think they are crediting the cable and not a much more plausible changes they've made at the same time. Most of us don't change our power cables after we set up a system. Over time, contacts oxidize leading to higher impedance connections or diodic action. Just removing and resetting the cable creates a wiping action that can remove this oxide layer and restore better conductivity the fact the cable changed at the same time may be immaterial. Second, when you pay a lot for cables, you don't buy more than you need. Therefore, when rewiring a system, you are smart about the power cable layout. You remove excess cable that may be coiled up near sensitive components, you put everything back into a single power strip (or "conditioner") restoring a star grounding system methodology, etc. In other words, along with the new cables, came several other changes that do have proven benefits. The anecdotal feedback I received was therefore not based on a controlled test and thus it is not credible.